Abstract
The article discusses the situation and issues of the legal deposit system of Japan based on the results of the survey which the National Diet Library (Japan) conducted in commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the current legal deposit system. About 70% of all the respondents have deposited their publications, but there is a big difference in deposit rate among the types of institutions. Publishing companies, universities and academic societies indicate a high deposit rate, but local governments have a low rate. There is a tendency for publishers who are uninterested in the preservation of their publications not to deposit. In addition, the digitization of publications might have an influence on the current legal deposit system, and the NDL will start to collect official materials released on the Internet in April 2010. From the results of the survey, the NDL has decided to concentrate on public relations activities to inform people of the role and procedure of the legal deposit system in order to raise the deposit rate of publications issued in Japan.
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